DNA testing has identified a body found in a Texas creek as missing flight attendant Rana Nofal Soluri, whose roommate faces murder charges for strangling her and dumping her remains off a bridge.
A Fort Worth Police Department spokesperson told reporters that laboratory work recently matched the remains to Soluri, the 47-year-old Envoy Air flight attendant who had been missing since March 2025. The body turned up June 13 on the bank of Brushy Creek under a bridge in Montague County, about 70 miles northwest of Fort Worth.
Dennis Day, 67, her former roommate and longtime friend, was arrested in June 2025 and charged with murder. Police say he admitted he snapped during a dispute and strangled her with his bare hands before hauling the body roughly 70 miles and throwing it from a bridge. Joni Thomas, also known as Joanne Walters, 63, faces a charge of tampering with evidence with intent to impair a human corpse for allegedly helping dispose of the remains. Both cases remain pending.
Fox News reported the identification closed a months-long gap between the discovery of the remains and official confirmation of who they belonged to.
Soluri worked for Envoy Air, the regional carrier owned by American Airlines. She had taken time off for a minor operation and was expected back at work on March 31, 2025. She never returned. A co-worker finally reported her missing on June 11 after repeated failed attempts to reach her.
Surveillance and an alleged confession pointed to Day early
Investigators described home surveillance from Day’s Fort Worth house dated March 21, 2025. The footage showed him dragging what appears to be a lifeless body from the home into the backyard.
Police said Day admitted the killing. In an arrest warrant cited by reports, he stated he “snapped” during a dispute with Soluri before he “began to strangle her with his bare hands.”
"snapped" during a dispute with Soluri before he "began to strangle her with his bare hands"
Court documents described the next steps: strangulation on the kitchen floor, a drag to the backyard, and loading the body “head first” into a large black trash bin for transport and disposal over the bridge. An inadvertent call and message allegedly captured a panicked request for help moving the body.
DNA work of this kind has closed other difficult cases, including when lab results tied creek remains to a missing flight attendant in parallel reporting on identity confirmation.
Prosecutors say Day bragged the missing body would protect him
Before the DNA match, the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office filed notice that Day had bragged to people in jail he could not be convicted if authorities never found Soluri’s body. He had reportedly told fellow inmates he felt confident he could not be charged while the remains stayed missing.
That calculation collapsed once the University of North Texas Health’s Center for Human Identification finished its testing. The New York Post reported a police account that the body was taken to the center and confirmed as Soluri two weeks before the public update.
"the body was taken to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification and confirmed to belong to Soluri two weeks ago, O’Brien said on Friday."
A fisherman made the initial find on June 13. The remains sat unidentified while the murder case against Day and the tampering case against Thomas moved forward on other evidence.
Similar DNA breakthroughs have driven arrests in older killings, as when genealogy testing helped Arlington police arrest a suspect in a 2012 stabbing.
Family buried Soluri in Seattle and prepares for court
American Airlines helped fly the remains to Seattle for a Muslim burial on Sept. 29. Soluri’s daughter, Lulu Soluri, has kept a low profile while managing the aftermath.
A GoFundMe page set up around the case described the personal cost of the next step:
"Lulu is a very private person, so this is a huge feat for her to face the person accused of killing her mother,"
The same page added that she thanks supporters and feels overwhelmed by the help she has received. Lulu plans to travel to Texas for a future court date and is expected to deliver a statement.
Recovery of a woman’s body has triggered murder charges in other recent cases, including the arrest of a Mississippi man after a mother of four was found dead.
Day remains charged with murder. Thomas remains charged with tampering with evidence with intent to impair a human corpse. No convictions have been recorded; both matters are still pending in the Tarrant County system.
Cold-case style charging after investigative breaks continues in other jurisdictions too, such as an Oregon man charged in a 1994 neighbor killing once evidence aligned.
Evidence stacked against a claim the body would never surface
The timeline is now clear in official accounts. Soluri went missing in March 2025 after time off for a minor procedure. Surveillance from March 21 captured the alleged movement of a lifeless body at Day’s house. She missed her March 31 return-to-work date. A co-worker reported her missing June 11. The fisherman found the remains June 13. Day’s arrest followed in June. DNA confirmation arrived weeks before the latest public statements, and the burial took place Sept. 29.
Police and prosecutors built the case on the alleged admission, the surveillance description, the disposal method laid out in court papers, the inadvertent call, the jailhouse bragging documented by the district attorney’s office, and finally the laboratory match from the University of North Texas Health’s Center for Human Identification.
Investigations into women found dead under traumatic conditions remain a steady demand on local departments, much like the NYPD review of a woman discovered in Central Park.
A flight attendant who simply failed to return from medical leave ended up identified months later in a creek bed after an alleged strangulation, a trash-bin transport, and a bridge dump. The roommate who police say counted on a missing body to beat the charge now faces the DNA result he reportedly believed would never arrive. Accountability starts with finding the victim and putting the evidence in front of a jury.
